Acer Aspire 5732z - weird (MB?) problem..

Hey guys,
I have a 5 years old acer 5732z that recently began to shutdown randomly and it doesn't power on again unless I remove one of the two RAM sticks.

It works flawlessly with only one stick.

I've tried, different combinations of RAM sticks and none seem to work: if I install a second stick the laptop doesn't boot. I've also tried removing the motherboard battery for more than 30sec, checked the motherboard for bad connections and cleaned the whole thing thoroughly, just in case, but to no avail.

Does anyone have any idea of what can I do to solve this?

Thanks

 

Test your memory modules using this software. After that let us know about the results. Maybe RAM is dying, maybe chipset.

RAM sticks are new/upgrade?

 

I'm sure it isn't the RAM: initially I took the PC to a repair shop and they told me it was a problem with the RAM and that it needed to be replaced. Fool that I was, I did buy 2 brand new sticks.. so there's that: it isn't the RAM..

 

Than maybe the problem is in RAM sockets or in the controller itself?

 

Oh just noticed your answer!

I suppose the sockets do work: I switched the stick's from one socket to the other and they worked. It's only when I insert both of them that the computer fails to boot...

What do you mean by the controller?

 

RAM is controlled by north bridge, if I`m not mistaken. If you experiance such problems, than the problem can be with it.

 

Hmm.. And how do I test that? If it were a problem in the north bridge shouldn't I be getting other 'symptoms' as well?

My battery died some time ago and I've been using it always plugged in. Could there be a problem with the power brick that fails to provide enough power to the PC?

 

Test North Bridge? Only thought that came into my mind - remove and install new drivers for chipset. If NB is faulty, that installation could not be done properly. But that is only "maybe". And if problem is on AC adapter, that it can be tested vie stress tests on the system. If it is adapter fault, than on the stress process PC will just turn off or freeze. But maybe I`m mistaken.

 

I'm running Linux so I'm not sure about the drivers.. I will test the adapter though